Film & Debate: Those Who Feel the Fire Burning

On April 23th 2015, the Montesquieu Institute and Filmhuis Den Haag runned Those Who Feel the Burning by director Morgan Knibbe. The film is about refugees who try to reach Europe.

Over the recent years the number of people seeking refugee-status in Europe has increased. The film Those Who Feel the Fire Burning shows the hopeless existence of some refugees stuck at the edge of Europe. As a group of refugees tries to enter Europe illegally by boat, a storm suddenly appears and all hell breaks loose when an old man falls overboard.

After the film was shown director Morgan Knibbe¹, member of European Parliament Dennis de Jong² (Socialist Party) and immigration expert Christian Mommers³ discussed the film and the solution of Europe's migration crisis.

Practical information

Date & time: April 23th 2015, 19:00 to 21:15

Location: Filmhuis Den Haag, Spui 191 The Hague

Entree fee: € 9,-, € 7,50 for students and the elderly

Film and debate is organized by the Filmhuis Den Haag, Montesquieu Institute and the international press centre Nieuwspoort. Please note the debate is in Dutch, even though the movie is in English. For further information we kindly refer you to the Dutch version of our website by clicking on 'Nederlands' in the right upper corner of this page.

The night is pitch-black, the sea stormy. Wild waves break on a little boat full of refugees, where a girl laments that she does not want to go to Europe. Suddenly an old man falls overboard. In vain he tries to grab the saving hands. Colored lightning flashes over a busy city seen from above. From that point on, the drowned man sees reality from another dimension. Unconventional and poetic in form, Those Who Feel the Fire Burning documents a serious social problem: the hopeless situation of the refugees who actually manage to make the crossing alive. The seeking soul of the old man hurries along the southern European border and dwells on the many disillusioned people, observing them calmly and up close. They would seem to be in limbo just like him, waiting on the edge of a presumed paradise. He sees people on the street chased away like dogs, follows an illegal worker and a drug-addicted mother and slips inside packed shelters. The voices of all these people blend together with his, creating a patchwork of loving memories, dreams and desires.

• 1. 

  Morgan Knibbe is regisseur en documentairemaker. Knibbe stelt dat hij in zijn werk diepgang wil geven aan journalistieke onderwerpen. Voor zijn documentaire over de scheepsramp bij Lampedusa ontving hij een prijs in het filmfestival van Locarno.
   
• 2. 

  Dennis de Jong (1955) was a member of the European Parliament from 14 July 2009 to 2 July 2019 as an independent member, and was aligned with the Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left. He took seat in Parliament on behalf of the Netherlands.
   
• 3. 

  Christian Mommers is werkzaam bij Amnesty International en is bezig met een proefschrift over de rechten en plichten van uitgeprocedeerde asielzoekers aan de Universiteit Leiden. Mommers heeft hiervoor bij diverse organisaties in binnen- en buitenland op het terrein van vluchtelingen en immigratie gewerkt.